Visual Source: Newseum
WaPo:
With the capital now almost completely under rebel control, the Libyan war’s focus is quickly shifting to an all-out manhunt for fugitive leader Moammar Gaddafi.
Why is he hiding? His people love him.
EJ Dionne:
You have to ask: If unemployment were at 6 percent, would President Obama be getting pummeled for not having us back to full employment already?
The question comes to mind in the wake of the Libyan rebels’ successes against Moammar Gaddafi. It’s remarkable how reluctant Obama’s opponents are to acknowledge that despite all the predictions that his policy of limited engagement could never work, it actually did.
Jonathan Bernstein:
The question of whether Barack Obama could have done more for the economy in his first two years has been burning up the intertubes over the last couple of days, feeding off of a pessimistic, or perhaps fatalistic, Ezra Klein post yesterday. Brad DeLong thinks so, and has a list of all the things Obama could have done that he didn’t.
My take: Obama certainly was dealt a tough hand, and it’s easy to lose sight of what he did right that might have prevented things from getting far worse. Overall, however, I think DeLong is right. There were indeed things Obama left untried that he probably could have done and that probably would have improved the economy — and made his path to reelection smoother.
Basically, we’re talking about two separate questions here. Could he have done more through the executive branch without Congress? And could he have gotten more out of Congress?
NY Times:
Steven P. Jobs, one of the most successful chief executives in corporate history, once said he never thought of himself as a manager, but as a leader. And his notion of leadership revolved around choosing the best people possible, encouraging them and creating an environment in which they could do great work.
But the Apple team, analysts say, will face a far greater trial in achieving continued success without Mr. Jobs in charge.
NY Times/Room For Debate:
In The New York Times last week, John M. Broder ran through the field of Republican presidential contenders, detailing the candidates who have opposed the agency: Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, the Georgia businessman Herman Cain, the former Utah governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. and the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
The candidates seem unanimously in agreement with Mrs. Bachmann’s assessment that the federal environmental agency should be called the “job-killing organization of America.” So what would happen if we got rid of the E.P.A.? Is there a better model to do what the agency was created to do?
Stephen Dworkin:
Will The Deficit Super Committee Decide the Fate of the EPA?
Mark Blumenthal:
Three new national polls released on Wednesday show Texas Gov. Rick Perry rocketing ahead of Mitt Romney and the rest of the announced candidates as the first choice of Republicans to be their 2012 presidential nominee.
Stephen Stromberg reflects on Rick Perry leading the GOP field:
Still, these results are a little startling, if for only one reason:
Gallup conducted the poll from August 17 to 21. The 17th was just four days into Perry’s campaign, but by then the candidate had already managed to suggest that Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was “treasonous,” imply that President Obama doesn’t love America, and speculate that climate science was an elaborate, cynical fraud . These weren’t exactly stories that got no attention.
I still think that Perry’s candidacy will flame out, a burst of know-nothing right-wing populism with a truly mean edge to it that ultimately can’t succeed with enough voters. Perry might still be attracting a measure of support merely because he’s new to the race, and because accounts of his absuridities somehow haven’t percolated down to every last GOP voter. Still, Gallup’s poll makes one wonder just what he’ll have to say to repel those who currently favor him.
Yet another reasonable analyst misunderestimates the knownothings that vote in a GOP primary.